Monday, July 28, 2008

Well today was Sunday and what an awesome day it was. We had a wonderful day of Sunday School and Worship. Thank you Lewis for a great lesson and for filling in for Gerry, who is away for his 40th, yes I said 40th birthday!

Happy Birthday Gerry!

After church we went to Sams for lunch and the "buffet".

Once home I decided to lay down and had the best Sunday afternoon nap. I have not had such a wonderful nap on a Sunday in a long time. It was GREAT!

After my nap I decided that Toby really needed a bath.

So the next few pictures are the during shots. He sure does look skinny when he is wet. He is so good for a bath. He just stands there and lets me wash him. He is such a good dog!

Here I am drying him. It takes more time to dry his hair then mine.

Doesn't he look great! I trimmed him up around the face and his top knot. He smells better too. I just love my dog.

On Friday morning I left at 7 am for a weekday education conference with some wonderful friends and colleagues. We had a great time. This was one of the displays of artwork in the art class I took. I just love to be reminded of what she told us. "It's the process, not the product" Amen sister!! It was a wonderful class. I will definitely be doing an art project like this when we do the Hungry Caterpillar book. It was adorable. All the circles are finger painted with different colors. It was so cute. I love it!

Here are Leigh and Laura at the lunch table. Jenny is in the picture next to them.Here are Sophie and Katherine.

After lunch I went into the area where the art gallery from different centers was. I saw this great turkey project for Thanksgiving time. They were called Picasso turkeys. Each one was different since all the kids made their own version. It had a cute poem to go with it. Here is a cute stained glass window project that I saw also, I may try this for Easter.

We had a wonderful speaker during the lunch sessions and after dinner. After the last session on Friday we decided to go to the Dollar tree and Walmart to look for some things to use in our classrooms. We found some great things for Circus week at the Dollar tree and some yummy snacks for the evening. Once back we had a great night of laughter and fun. My roommate was Jenny and our room was adjoining to Sophie and Leigh's room. We stayed up way too late laughing and getting excited about our upcoming year. Mostly laughing. I am so excited to get back to school and start a new year. I know this year is going to be wonderful!

Saturday was a long day. I was very tired. After breakfast me and Jenny went back to our room and had a nice nap during the first session since there weren't any classes we wanted to take.We were very refreshed and ready for the rest of the day. After a great day of very informative classes we headed home.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Well the kids left yesterday afternoon and Tyler took the day off today so we could spend the day together. Can I just tell you how much I love him, he's awesome!! We spent the morning cleaning out my car for Friday when I was driving down to White Oak for a preschool conference, then we decided to go into Greenville for the day. We have never really been downtown before. We started off at Falls park. Here we are by the edge of the park. It was beautiful!

Here are my feet dipped in the Reedy River, It was so hot outside and this was so refreshing!

We spent the whole day just enjoying our time together and the beautiful outdoors around us. I just love holding his hand.

We walked across the suspension bridge and around the Peace center and all along the Reedy River, and down by Larkin's on the River. We decided to check out the children's garden so that we could see if we would want to bring the kids there. It was an awesome place. Here are some pictures.

Here are some of the scenes from around the park. After we had a nice long walk we sat on a swing and just watched all of nature around us.

Here is our view from the swing. Isn't it amazing!!!

If you have not been to Falls Park make it a point to go some time this summer. I recommend a Thursday since it is not busy at all. We can't wait for the kids to get back so we can take them there and have a picnic.

After we left the park we went to main street to walk around. We had a fun time seeing all the people and stores.

Then we headed home. We decided to grab a bite to eat at IHOP, before heading home since we hadn't really eaten anything but some snacks.

Let me tell you what an awesome opportunity my children have been given this week. I have to preface this with the story of how it came about. My parents have a time share with Wyndham, and they have like a gazillion points. So needless to say they travel a lot and because he is a platinum member he gets a free upgrade on his room selection. He was telling me how they upgraded him to the 4 bedroom Presidential suite for his stay at Edisto Island. Him: "You should come with us" ; Me: "sorry i can't I have a preschool conference this weekend and I have to work next week for the preschool camp at church", Him: "Oh, to bad..." Me: "You should take all my kids with you, ha ha" Him: "Okay" Me: "What?????????"

Well needless to say I just about had them packed that day, what an awesome opportunity for some fun in the sun and some quality time with their Grandparents. I forgot to say my sister and her daughter were also going down for a long weekend also. So this made it even more fun for them..

My parents picked them up on Wednesday afternoon, they could only fit 3 comfortable, so they took Sarah and Jonathan. Here they are ready to go in the backseat. We had to put the bags of food I sent between them for the ride down. They look mighty happy to be leaving us :-(

They look mighty happy to be taking them also... I will be sure to post the looks on their faces when they get home!

Oh by the way how much stuff do you need to go to the beach with 4 kids and two adults?? obviously a lot looking at their car... I am sure they had a few people behind them chuckling.

Then a few hours later my sister called and she was getting close to our house and we told her we would meet her in Clinton so she would not have to go out of her way to get our two big girls. Abigail and Hannah were really excited to go with Michelle, my sister and my niece Paige. Here is Abigail ready to go. Here are Hannah and Paige giving each other some love!!

Okay... how much stuff do 3 girls, My sister, My niece and her friend need for a 4 day trip?? obviously a lot since they only thing we added to her car was my two girls and their purses.

Well we sent them off for a great week. Now what??... Well we decided to go to Greenville on the way back and do some shopping and have dinner at the shops at Greenridge. Can I just tell you I LOVE this shopping center...EVERY CHANCE I get I go to the shops at Greenridge I go if I am in Greenville, there are some awesome shops there.

More on our week alone later. I have some awesome pictures to share.. thanks for coming today. Also if you enjoyed the blog today please leave a comment.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Just in case you were wondering about the music on my blog... Most all of the songs are somewhat related/same genre. The very last song "When I'm with you" by Sheriff is on there because it is the song Tyler and I danced to at our wedding... We Just LOVE IT!!! Hope you can enjoy it also. I am hoping to find one of our wedding pictures of us dancing to it to post on the blog under the music spot.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

This was the beautiful scene before us when we arrived at the Lake Greenwood home of Wendy and Greg Bailey.

Tyler and I on the dock before the fun started.

We wasted no time getting right to the business at hand!

Sarah and Hannah swimming.

Abigail coming up the ladder and Patrick and Jonathan.

This is a picture of Gerry with Hannah and Sarah on the jet ski and Jonathan and Quentin with Gerry getting ready to go out for a ride.

Here are Owen and Garrett swimming by the dock.

Here are Rowan and Jax Mann, can you tell they love the camera. Here I am with Sarah and Jonathan on the Jet ski. I did not feel very comfortable with them riding with me, so soon after this shot was taken of us leaving we were back... I was so afraid I would have us all falling off.

Here is Tyler and the kids on the floats and Abigail and Sarah on the boat.

Here is Abigail and Hannah enjoying the lake!

Can I tell you what Tyler wants now.... He had sooooooooooo much fun on the jet ski! He was just like a little kid with a new toy. He even let me ride with him. The lake was beautiful... We had a great ride.

More jet ski and boating fun. Greg took all the kids and Adults that wanted to go out on the boat. By the way can I just say, knee boarding is much harder than it looks! Heather, Me, Nick and his friend went out and tried, well lets just say, I did not get up. I rode on my belly for the whole time... every time I tried to get to my knees I was thrown off. Lets just say that my stomach and upper arm muscles are still hurting today. Thanks again Greg and oh, "go faster, go faster"....

Me and Heather relaxing on the floats having some girl time. I think this was before the jet ski incident...Heather flipped right off of it. Gerry said it was like watching a movie in slow motion. She is very bruised up though, so if you see her ask her how she is.

After a long day... enjoying some time with Selah Mann. She is so precious!

Here are the boys at the end of the day playing the blame game... Lets just say it involved a jet ski, a buoy and Gerry, enough said!

Lewis, Tyler, Greg and Gerry

Special thanks to Wendy and Greg for hosting a wonderful day at the lake! You have helped us in creating some beautiful memories with our family and good friends!

Also I would be negligent if I did not mention that almost all of the pictures shown here were taken by Roxanne Mann. I took about 6 pictures all day. Thanks for having my back.

About Me

I am a married mother of 4 beautiful children. I teach a 4K class at Anderson Mill Road Baptist Church. I have been married to my wonderful husband Tyler since October 10, 1992. We have 4 children Abigail Grace-15, Hannah Leigh-13, Jonathan Tyler-10 and Sarah Katherine-7. Each one is a blessing from God. We are actively involved in our children's lives and in our church, Anderson Mill Road Baptist Church.

Favorite Bible verses etc...

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. Proverbs 24:3-4GRACE is God's Riches At Christ's ExpensePrayer involves coming to understand the mind of God, by spending time in the prescence of God, until we are so enamoured with the nature of God, that all we want is the will of God.